Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. Has $14.02 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,928 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 268 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.0% of Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,334,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $438.73 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $389.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.